Car-truck.



PATENTED JULY 10, 1906. P. P. HATGHER- CAR TRUCK.

' APPLICATION FILED PEB.16.1906.

INVENTOR.

Tue/c WITNESSES.

ATTORNEY.

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PATENT OFFICE.

PEARL P. HATOHER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

CAR-TRUCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 10, 1906.

Application filed February 16, 1906. Serial No. 301,447.

To all whom, it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, PEARL P. HATCHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car- Trucks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention has relation to improvements in car-trucks; and it consists in the novel construction of truck more fully set forth in the specification and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan of the truck with car removed therefrom. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, showing the bottom of the car resting thereon. Fig. 3 is an end view of the truck and a vertical section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2 of the portion above the center rock-frame. Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section on line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a perspective detail showing the construction of the outer hangers and roller-bearing plates supported thereby, and Fig. 6 is a perspective of the terminal of one of the arms of the spider carried by the rock-frame.

The object of my invention is to construct a car-truck which will be wholly of metal with a view of combining strength and stiffness of parts with lightness and economy in material, one which will afford a maximum supporting-surf ace for the car, one which will minimize the degree of oscillation or displace ment in the car-body during the passage of the trucks around a curve, one in which the friction between the carbody and the supporting-surface of the truck is reduced to a minimum, and one possessing further and other advantages better apparent from a detailed description of the invention, which is .as follows:

Referring to the drawings, 1 1 represent the side members of the truck, provided with the usual axle-box aws 2 2, the adjacent ends of the said side members being coupled by means of contiguously-disposed connecting cross members 3 3, having terminals 4 4, respectively, deflected in opposite directions and embracing the sides of the members 1 1, the one cross member 3 resting on top of the side members 1 1 and the other cross member 3 having its ends disposed across the bottom of said side members, the deflected ends 4 4 being secured to the sides of the side members as shown. A second pair or set of members 3 3, having deflected ends 4 4, connect the side members on each side of the center there of, the whole forming a truck frame or body of superior stiffness, lightness, and durabil ity. Disposed centrally and longitudinally of the frame and supported between the outer pairs of cross members 3 3 is a semicylindrical bearing 5, each bearing receiving a correspondingly-shaped trunnion 6 of a center rectangular rock-frame 7, which is free to oscillate or rock in a vertical plane about the axes of the trunnions 6, as obvious. Suspended from the corners of the rock-frame 7 is a spider 8, whosearms 0r membeis terminate in upturned portions 9 9, bearing against the inner faces of the frame on each side of the vertex of the corner-angle of the frame, the terminals 9 of the portions 9 being looped or bent over suitable beads .or ribs 10, formed on the frame, whereby a firm grip by said arms on the frame is assured.

Received by the frame 7 is a center-plate 11, said plate resting on a series of springs 12, interposed between it and the spider 8, said springs serving as cushioning supports for the car-body C. The center-plate 11 is provided with a series of annular concentric grooves 13 13, which receive antifriction ballbearings 13, the bottom plate 14 of the car resting directly on said ball-bearings. The outer portions of the plate 14 are supported on the cylindrical roller-bearings 15, mounted on the curved plates 16, the latter resting in turn on springs 17, which are supported by the curved hangers 18, interposed and suspended from the inner members of the intermediate pairs of cross members 3 3. The sides of the suspending arms of the curved hangers 18 are formed into wings 19 20, which prevent any possible displacement of the plates 16. The center of the plate 11 receives the king-bolt 21, coming from the carbody, as is well understood in the art. Such portions as appear on the drawings to which no reference has been made are well known in the art and form no part of my present invention.

It will be seen from the foregoing that as a truck is passing around a curve it will readily conform to such curvature, the several ballbearings and roller-bearings reducing the friction during any variations in the relations between the truck and car-body. When the trucks incline inwardly by reason of the greater elevation of the outer rail on a curve, the several springs on that side will compress sufliciently to preserve the substantial horizontality of the floor of the car-body, the center frame 7 freely rocking about its trunnions in the semicylindrical bearings formed on the truck-frame.

It will be observed that one of the cross members 3 8viz. the member 3serves as a tension member under the weight it supports, while the member 3, being arched or in the shape of a truss, serves partially as a tension and partly as a compression member, the compression strains passing through the inclined terminal portions thereof and tending to force the side members 1 1 apart, while the member 3 tends to draw them together, so that the opposite strains thus exerted on the side members are in a measure equalized. This is a decided advantage as a structural feature in the truck, since the lateral strains passing through the side membersare practically neutralized.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a car-truck, a suitable frame, a rockframe carried thereby capable of oscillating in a vertical plane, and a cushioned support on the rock-frame for carrying the car-body, substantially as set forth.

2. In a car-truck, a suitable frame or body portion, a rock-frame supported thereby, a plate on the rock-frame for receiving the carbody, and a series of springs interposed be tween the plate and rock-frame, substantially as set forth.

3. In a car-truck, a frame composed of side members and series of pairs of transverse tension and compression members respectively, longitudinally-disposed concave or semicylindrical bearings carried by the transverse members, a central rock-frame having trunnions mounted in said bearings, a spider suspended from the frame, springs on the spider, a plate on the springs, said plate having annular grooves for the reception of ball-bearings, substantially as set forth.

4. In a car-truck, a frame composed of side members and series of cross or transverse members, a centrally disposed rock frame carried by the cross members, curved hangers disposed on each side of the rock-frame and supported from the cross members, springs on said hangers, and roller-bearing curved plates resting on the springs, substantially as set forth.

5. In a car-truck, a frame composed of side members and series of cross or transverse members, a centrally-disposed rock-frame carried by the cross members, a cushioned plate on the frame for the support of the carbody, outwardlycurved hangers disposed on each side of the rock-frame and supported from the cross members, roller-bearing curved plates having cushioned supports on the hangers, and wings on the hangers for retaining the curved plates in position, substantially as set forth. a

6. In a car-truck, a truck-frame, a rockframe mounted thereon, a spider suspended from the rock-frame, arms forming parts of said spider, beads or ribs on the frame engaged by the terminals of the spider-arms, a carbodysupporting plate mounted within the frame above the spider, and springs interposed between the plate and spider, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PEARL P. HATCHER. Witnesses:

EMIL STAREK, J 0s. A. MICHEL. 

